1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an imaging apparatus, an image processing method, and a program, which allow images to be processed at an arbitrary frame rate among a plurality of frame rates.
2. Description of the Related Art
In existing video recording systems (Motion JPEG, MPEG2/4/H.264 AVC, etc.), a frame rate is fixed at a static value (30 fps, 60 fps, etc.) beforehand.
Accordingly, in common imaging apparatuses, a video is taken at 30 or 60 frames per second.
In this case, a smooth video of an object moving at a high speed may not be recorded, for example.
In order to handle such a situation, apparatuses that are capable of changing the frame rate have been proposed (see Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2006-352581 and Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2007-116418, for example).
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2006-352581 discloses a method of recording and playing a video that involves a mixture of two frame rates, i.e., a low frame rate and a high frame rate.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2007-116418 discloses a recording apparatus that allows the frame rate to be changed linearly in the case where, while a video is recorded at a low frame rate, such as 60 fps, a recording rate is changed to a high frame rate, such as 240 fps, because of a user operation or the like.